Camden Council proposes some improvements in Avenue Road as the result of the CRISP on LCN+ Link 26.
They say:
- Each day an average of 150 cyclists ride south along Avenue Road (from Adelaide Road to Norfolk Street) between 8am and 10am and 40 cyclists between 2pm and 6.30pm. We are concerned about the safety of cyclists due to vehicles parking and leaving the residents’ parking
bays along this section of Avenue Road. Also, these parking bays are not fully used (about 75% are empty during the morning peak period).
They propose to extend the start of the southbound cycle lane to the corner of Avenue Road, just
before the junction with Adelaide Road. And they’re proposing to remove parking bays to make room.
They also propose to build raised entry treatments on Elsworthy Road and Queen’s Grove, at their junctions with Avenue Road.
Notes on CRISP recommendations
- It is recommended to refresh and widen the northbound advisory cycle lane to 1.5m, using 150mm
lane markings and to extend cycle lanes across side roads to maintain continuity. (Not included) - Extend cycle lanes across side roads to maintain continuity.
- Provide raised entry treatments at side road junctions to slow drivers down before reaching the junction. (included)
- Review location and necessity of parking bays on east side. (included)
- Gateway treatment to identify to traffic entering a residential area, (i.e colour treatment surfacing, vehicle speed reduction signs especially near schools, etc). (Not included)
- Provide waiting area at junction of Elsworthy Road / Avenue Road / Queens Grove. (Meaning?)
Avenue Road Consultation Report report . LB Camden has hidden the file and we don’t have a copy, but we do have the report
CCC’s response
We have answered “YES” to all three questions, but have reservations about the raised entry treatments.
Our comments:
We are very much in favour of the removal of the parking bays and the installation of a continuous cycle lane on the south-bound stretch of Avenue Road. However, we are very disappointed that no equivalent improvement is proposed for north-bound cyclists. The CRISP report specially mentioned the need for a wider north-bound lane given the uphill gradient. This factor has also been raised by our members.
The raised entry treatments for Elsworthy Road and Queen’s Grove make sense in respect of improving cycling on LCN+ Link 26, but don’t really fit with the recommendations recently made in respect of the east-west route (which uses Elsworthy Road and Queen’s Grove). We quote from the Local Cycle Link East-West Route CRISP Report, Datasheet 2b (Queen’s Grove/Avenue Road) pp. 56-57:
Strategy options:
- Provide a protective island and illuminated bollard to the southeast of the junction.
- Provide a yellow box road junction marking across the junction.
- Provide cycle logo markings and cycle route direction signage.
- Provide a signalised crossing.
Recommendation with reasons:
- To protect cyclists turning right from Avenue Road into Queen’s Grove.
- To keep the junction clear and assist cyclists with crossing Avenue Road.
- This assists cyclists with directions along the route.
- To allow users to cross over Avenue Road at the staggered junction safely. Requires traffic modelling.
We are particularly interested in 4, as this could replace the existing signalized pedestrian crossing just to the north of the junction. Given that none of this appears to have been taken into account in drawing up the proposals currently being consulted upon, we suggest that the raised entry treatments be deferred until such time (we hope not far off!) as the junction can be comprehensively considered by the London Borough of Camden, i.e. with both CRISP reports to hand.
Quite a few of our members who commented on these proposals mentioned issues with the route south of the Camden boundary, in particular poor road surface on Avenue Road and difficulties both accessing and cycling along the Outer Circle. We appreciate that these are not Camden’s concern, but perhaps the points could be relayed to the appropriate authorities
